Problem with Madness
by PunnyPunkin
Summary: The problem with madness is no one takes you seriously. The problem with madness is you love too deeply. The problem with madness is you can safely do whatever you want and blame that madness. The problem is- a war suddenly makes sense.


A low rumble of thunder danced through rain slicked leaves, the branches creaking and croaking in the wind. A sharp flash of lightening and suddenly the jungle was gone and an angry sea tossing and swirling violently. The jungle returned with towering trees with thick canopies hiding the dark storm clouds, the sand teetered between the sludge of wet sand to the rough and slick jungle floor, branches suddenly springing from the sand to hook around my feet and yank at me.

_Keep running, Nim! I'm right behind you, don't stop!_

"Gil? Gil I can't see!" I screamed over the rush of rain and thunder, feeling the rumble in my chest as I gasped and gulped down cold wet air like a liquid. My chest blossomed with a fire as I blinked into the blinding lightening, watching as my surroundings swirled and changed with every violent flash. Jungle then beach, nothing here in the Arena made sense. All of it a twisted Game, not even the rain freezing me was real. My brother suddenly ran into me, my body being shoved forward into the wet ground, mud pushing through my fingers and against my clothes as I coughed.

_Nim, come on! We can't let them find us, hurry!_

I struggled to stand, the cloth of my clothes clinging awkwardly to my body as I tried to pull and kick myself forward. Gil's hands were vague and disconnected as he grasped at me, trying desperately to pull me to my feet where we both needed me.

The arena smelled so strongly of storm I couldn't tell what part we were in, the roar of what sounded like waves blended hauntingly to the thunder. My body gave tremendous shakes as the icy water hit my skin through the clothes like ice bullets. I dug my feet into the ground and propelled myself forward, stumbling blinding through rain and veins and leaves.

"Gil! Gil I can't find you! GIL!" I screamed in terror as I fell into a clearing. The Cornucopia where only days earlier Gil and I had escaped the blood bath and disappeared into the overwhelming darkness. I blinked cold water from my eyes, pushing my hair from my face and daring to cry out into the storm, "GIL!"

I needed my brother

"Gil, I'm so tired I don't think I can-," I gasped and stopped as the thunder roared and the lightening lit up the sky. The jungle was gone; all that remained was a desolate beach I finally saw for the first time. The white capped waves rushing to the shore with brute force, bombarding the sand with walls of force and matching the thunder crash for body shattering crash. I stared at the drowning dock as another strike of light bust over the sea's horizon.

No jungle trees with strangling veins; no chirping and howling monkeys lurking in shadowed canopies. I stared at the open beach and then the dark houses along the shore. Everyone slept in their cozy beds, not a one of them aware of the madness being unleashed just outside.

"Gil?" I called frightened. Where was my brother? I couldn't leave without him, I needed him. I needed Gil. "GIL!" I cried again when the light erupted in the sky, making me believe a torrent sea stood in front of me, waves rolling and towering just feet in front of me as I stood on a swaying dock. The mud turned to wet wood, before sinking into thick dark mud once more.

_Follow my voice, Nimue! You're almost here, just hurry up! They'll find us, they'll hurt us_

Hot tears mingled with cold rain. I ran toward his voice, so clear and steady in this swirling storm where dark was light and light was dark again. My arms pumped along my sides, swatting at leaves as I ran.

Thunder cracked jumpstarting my heart as electric darted along the dark clouds; waves crashed onto the docks and almost took my feet out from under me. The jungle was gone for good now. The dock stretched well out into the ocean and fishing boats bobbed over thrashing waves. My body shook with cold as I stared around in confusion. Where was Gil? Why couldn't I hear him anymore, what did the Gamemakers do?

No, no I wasn't in the Games. I looked at my hands, the nails worn down to the skin and trembling with cold and fear, but they were older. Not my hands. My hair was shorter, wilder in the rain and unbrushed for much longer than just the two days I had been in the Arena. I was home, in District 4.

_NIMUE! NIMUE HELP!_

"Gil?" I called out into the ocean. "Gil, is that you?" His voice was so strong, carried on the wind pushing ice needles into me as it skittered across the waves. I stumbled, losing my footing on the slick dock as I tried to get closer. "Gil!" I screamed seeing him just in front of me, tangling in thick jungle veins and trying to break free as he reached for me. I ran to him, arm outstretched into the darkness as I ran. My voice hoarse from screaming his name, but I kept screaming. I kept reaching. I was almost there, out fingertips brushed and- he was gone. I was staring into a tall blackened wave well over my head as the lightening illumed the real world.

A world without Gil.

A world with me.

The breath caught in my throat before an arm wrapped my middle and pulled me to the wood. A weight fell on my back and then ice water as the wave broke drenching me to the bone. I coughed and gripped the wood tight as the heavy water pulled me towards the depths, but the weight held strong.

"I have you," the voice lulled. A calm rumble to rival the thunder as heat slowly sank into me. I shivered, hearing my teeth chatter as I scanned the ocean frantically.

I could only get one word out; I could only work one syllable and it was the only thing I wanted and the only thing I didn't see,

"Gil."


End file.
